New Addition
by knowhere
Summary: Literati. A day spent shopping together, among other things. AU


**New Addition**

Author: Knowhere

Rating: Pg-13

Disclaimer: Nothing, just the words.

AN: Just a little something.

H: Thanks for the lovely idea.

Summary: Literati. A day spent together shopping, among other things. AU.

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The double doors slide open and she claps in excitement. Scowling at her happy mood, he stands awkwardly at her side. "There are way too many people here on the weekends."

"Yeah, well," she bumps his side playfully, "this is the only time we could both come."

He rolls his eyes. "I would've sacrificed it and let you come by yourself at a day when there isn't a horde of people."

"No," she whines. "We need to do this together."

Sighing, he walks over to her and waits patiently. "Alright. Where to first?"

"Um, let me see." She runs her fingers over the map she picked up. "Up. Escalator. And then a right turn."

"Okay." He lets her step in front of him and he hugs her from behind as they move to the upper level. "Couldn't we just have stayed in bed today?" He kisses the side of her neck once, and nuzzles her for a moment just to punctuate his request.

Dropping her head to the side, to allow him more room, she shakes her head slightly. "We can do that tomorrow."

They step off the escalator and he follows her lead. Just a step behind her, he reaches for her hand, and takes it into his own. Tossing him a smile over her shoulder, she's touched by the simple gesture. He's grown up a bit since they were kids. And it makes her very happy. He knows it too, even if he never admits that he's changed.

Dragging him over, she becomes more animated. "There they are." She bounces along and he follows at a safe distance. "How about this one?" She points. "It says 'I'm a grown up.'"

He snickers and flips the tag. "No, it says, 'You'll have to spend your entire paycheck just to pay for me.'"

She turns and makes a face at him. Seeing something in her line of sight, she makes a beeline for another. "This." With a wave of her arms, "Says, 'I remind of you of simpler times. You'll think of apple pies and the Fourth of July when you think of me.'" Smiling and dropping him a curtsy, she illustrates her point.

Disgusted he turns around. "It says, 'I've been attacked by plaid and somehow grown up to look like Luke.'"

"You're impossible." Her hands go to her hips like a child. "Oh, how about this?" She twirls around and flops down. "This says, 'you can rearrange me however you want.'"

"Yeah right." He scoffs but sits down as well. Rubbing his hands over the material, he turns to her. "It says, 'I'm so pretentious that my furniture needs to be in sections.'"

She pops up and walks away. "You're not helping."

Chuckling, he drapes a casual arm around her shoulders. He kisses the side of her temple and lets her lead them around the store. "I'm helping. I'm here, aren't I?"

"I had to drag you out of bed." She shrugs and comments off-handedly.

"Yeah, but you loved every minute of it."

"I did not! I was up and ready to go at eight this morning, but you wouldn't wake up."

"Like you didn't enjoy coming back into bed with me." He stops walking to look at her.

"You're horribly distracting."

"You weren't complaining this morning. Especially when I did that thing with my tongue that you seem to like so much."

She blushes hotly and bites her lip from embarrassment. "Jess! We're in public."

He chuckles. "Sure."

She makes a noise of rebuke, but suddenly her eyes light up and she slips out of his grasp. "This," she bends down to examine it further, "says 'I'm modern and a minimalist.'"

He stands in front of her, refusing to give into her insanity and watches from above with his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his jeans. "No, it says, 'my leather will stick to your ass on a hot New York summer day.'"

"Eww." She stands but refuses to move as she gives him a horrified look. "Why wouldn't you wear clothes when you're on the couch?"

He smirks and leans into her to whisper. "It's been known to happen." He hugs her and brushes his lips against the shell of her ear. "It's also been known to happen that you join me when I'm on the couch with no clothes."

Blushing again, she scoots over to the couch next to them. "This one?"

He blinks, not believing his eyes. "Are those flowers on the couch? I can get on board with the whole 'make love, not war' theme it has going on, but I don't think I can stand making love on that couch."

She laughs loudly, but stops when she notices that she's attracting attention. Getting up, she points to another. "This?"

"Too fat."

"It's a couch."

He glances down at it. "It's a fat couch."

She spins around and looks up at the signs showing directions to the different departments. "Maybe we should just get chairs instead."

Confused, he replies. "We can't watch T.V and sit together on a chair."

"We can sit together on a chair." She turns her head to look at him.

He smirks. "Well, we can't make out on a chair." He pauses. "Oh, no. Wait. That's wrong. We have made out on a chair before."

She blushes bright red and pushes him away in jest. "Okay then. What about that one?" She points.

"Way too big. That could fit two of us."

"Come on." Tugging on his hand, she leads him away. "This one says, 'don't judge me because of my size. I might be small, but I'm cute.'"

He chuckles, but sits down anyways. Leaning back, he grips the side to keep from falling. "No, I think it says 'I'm so small you can't even lean back because there's nothing there to support you.'"

Turning to make a face at him, she gets irritated and points at him. "Look Mister, I don't see you making any suggestions."

"What?" He shrugs and gives her his best puppy dog look. "I make suggestions."

"You're making sarcastic comments."

Cocking his head to the side, his arm rests along the back of the low sofa. "Hey." He speaks softly as if to a child, "I can be good."

With her chin turned up, she's defiant and pouty. "You're ruining our IKEA experience." Her arms are crossed and she turns away from him on the small couch.

"I'm sorry." He mocks her anger and sticks out his lower lip to emphasize his apology.

Trying to hide her smile, she's unsuccessful and bites the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at his expression. "Oh, alright."

"Great." He returns to his smirk and brushes a brief kiss on her lips. "Let's get off his midget couch." He stands and extends his hand to her. Pulling her up with him, he wraps his arm tight around her waist and steers her away to another section. "How about that one?" He whispers into her left ear.

She shivers, but turns to scoff at him. "Yeah right."

"What?"

"That says, 'You'll never be able to put me together 'cause you'll refuse to read the directions and I'll end up calling for help.'"

"Hey. I resent that attitude. I'm great at putting stuff together."

"No, you're not."

"Well, I'm better than you."

She rolls her eyes and tugs him closer. "Well, that's a given."

He nods triumphantly.

"You just enjoy feeling like a guy." She pokes him in the stomach.

He flinches, but doesn't pull away from her. "Hey. Watch it. You're trampling all over my ego."

"It can stand to be taken down a notch or two."

"I'm wounded." He clutches his heart.

"Shut up." She giggles. "Hey." Her head turns and she tugs on his hand. Weaving through a line of people, she brings him in front of another. "This looks nice."

"I don't like the base." He ducks down to get a better look. "It's sitting almost directly on the floor. Are we getting a couch or a rug?"

"Jess…" She whines. "At the rate we're going, we'll be here all day."

"I thought that was the point? Come and spend the day at IKEA."

"Well yes," she rubs her eyes with her hands. "But I wanted to eat at the marketplace and look around for other things as well. I don't want to spend all day looking for a sofa."

"What other things do we need?"

"I don't know. But that's the fun in coming here. Maybe we'll leave with a new floor lamp for our bedroom, a 500 count bag of tea light candles, some picture frames for those homeless pictures of ours, and maybe some knickknacks for the bathroom, or something."

His eyes widen at her speech. "Sheesh, you've given this a lot of thought, haven't you?"

"Well…" She wrings her hands at her side. "I've just been looking forward to this."

He nods and comes up behind her to wrap his arms around her stomach. "Okay." He pauses and takes a survey of the room. "How about that one?" He asks softly.

"Which one?"

Bending his knees, he levels his head beside hers, and points so that she can follow his directions. "That one. The black one."

She smiles. "Let's go see it up close."

Taking her hand, he walks around other couches on the showroom floor. "Well?"

"I think I'm in love."

He chuckles and watches her gaze in awe at the sofa.

She sidles up to him and hugs him. "You're witnessing a new addition to the family."

He rolls his eyes at her, but is amused that she's so delighted. "Good thing we're with all these strangers to witness this momentous event."

"It's wonderful." She lets go of his hand and walks over to the sofa. Running her hands across the fabric, she smiles widely. "Perfect. Can't you just imagine it in our living room? It'll fit right in."

He nods and writes down the item and bin number. Tucking the paper back into his pocket, he sits down and motions for her to do the same.

Joining him, she lays her head on his shoulder and closes her eyes for a moment. "We found him."

"Him?" He glances down at her.

"Yup." Bringing an arm over and around his stomach, she blushes slightly after she catches the amused look from a passing elderly couple. "What should we name him?"

"Rory, our couch does not need a name."

"Sure he does."

"No, it doesn't." He tugs her closer with his arm and stretches his legs in front of him. "It's bad enough that you named the silverware and talk to them when I do the dishes…" He trails off.

"It makes a chore go by faster." She tucks her legs under her and sighs in comfort.

He scoffs and kisses the top of her head. "But I'm the one doing the dishes."

"Yeah, but I watch. And that in itself might as well be a chore." She opens her eyes and looks down. "Seriously, don't you love him? It's perfect. Perfect size, color, shape, everything."

"Yeah, not bad." He looks around the back and also below the couch. Settling his gaze back to the top, he lifts an eyebrow. "Know what I think I'll love best about it?"

"Him." She corrects him. "What?"

"I think it's wide enough to hold us both in a horizontal position."

She smacks him lightly across his shoulder. "Get your mind out of the gutter."

"I didn't say anything. You're the one who assumed."

"You're always making dirty comments."

"No, you assume I'm making dirty comments." He chuckles. "Maybe you're the one with the dirty mind."

She shakes her hand and lays her head back down on his shoulder. "Shh…" She squeezes his side. "Let's be quiet and enjoy our new family member."

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AN: Tell me something you liked about it…


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